Tread-power.



N0. 698,38l. P atented Apr. 22, I902.

C. R. GALE.

TREAD POWER (Application filed Jan. 15, 1902.

2 Sheets-sheaf (No mm.)

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N0. 698,38l. Patented Apr. 22, I902.

'c. a. GALE. TRE'AD POWER. (Application ,flled Jan. .1 5. 1992.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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NITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES R. GALE, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TREAD-POWER.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,381, dated April 22, 1902.

V Application filed January 15, 1902. $erial No. 89,839. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES R. GALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tread-Powers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of powers wherein a horse walks an endless road on an upward incline, his weight operating to impart motion to a driving-shaft, my purpose being the production of simple and efficient means for utilizing such power and for operating such a shaft. r

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my device; Fig. 2, an end elevation; Fig. 3, a section of Fig. 2, taken on the line 3 3; and Fig. 4, a section of Fig. 1, taken on the line 4 4.

Similar letters refer to similar parts through the several views, A being the bed, B the pit.

low-blocks, C the friction-rollers, and D the rotatable ring.

The bed A may consist' wholly of masonry,

partly of masonry and partly of timber, or wholly of timbers, as herein shown. When the latter, it consists of the sills a, which should be leveled, and of the cross-ties b, rigidlysecuredthereon. Thesecross tiesbshould be both level and parallel, these being essential features of construction.

The pillow blocks B are not unlike those commonly used for like purposes, merely serving to receive and support the shafts or pins of the rollers O. The friction-rollers G are preferably of the same size, are parallel, and respectively of uniform diameter at those portions which contactwith the rotatable ring D. This, too, is an 1 important feature of con-. struction, as will hereinafter be apparent.

They are provided at their ends with cen trally-located longitudinallyextending pins 0, upon which they rotate in the pillowblocks 13.

The rotatable ring D constitutes the hereinbefore-mentioned endless road upon which a horse travels in generating power. It may be fashioned in a number of ways, no particular construction being essential to its operation, save that it should be cylindrical in form and must be uniformin diameteF-that is to say, the same size at both ends. As herein shown, it consists of a number'of interchangeable segments d, which segments when united constitute an interiorly-grooved ring, each segment being fashioned with parallel side pieces 6, which unitedly serve as guards for the horse. One of these segments d is provided with a door f, through which the horse may be led in or out. A feed-box .g is supported upon a shaft h, which shaft in turn is rotatable within a socket 7;, affixed to the sill a. This shaft 71. may be swung around in its socket 2', thereby carrying the feed-box 9 within the ring D, whereat the horse may feed while (like a squirrel in a cage) he ro- ,tates the ring, or it may be swung in an op- "posite direction, thereby carrying the said box 9 out and away from the ring. This device-for feeding, while convenient, is not an essential feature of my invention.

The door f being opened, the horse is led into the before-mentioned annular groove, where he is tied, (his feed-box g being a convenient thing to hitch him to,) when his weight will at once cause the ring 0 to rotate, and he will be carried to the lowest point of the track, when he will advance, and as he is again carried rearward and downward he will again advance, and thus as fast as gravity carries him rearward he will, step by step, advance, and thereby cause the ring D to rotate. Now as the ring D and the self-winding living weight therein rest upon the friction-rollers C it is apparent that a rotary movement will be imparted to the said rollers, which movement may be utilized to operate a great number of useful machines.

I am aware'of the fact that wheels having lhubsand doublesets of spokes (spider-heads) have been affixed to strong shafts and the Whole mounted upon a rigid frame, that horseshave trod the interior circumferential walls of such wheels, (walking between the series of spokes,) and that the power thus generated has been transmitted from such shaft to counter-shafts, and I do not, therefore, claim such a device; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An animal-tread power, embodying a cylinder, the interior circumferential wall of which constitutes an endless track upon which the animal walks, and the exterior circumferential wall of which constitutes endless frictional contact; horizontal rollers, upon which the said cylinder is mounted and upon which it is rotated, and pillow-blocks within which the said rollers are journaled, the whole constitutinga friction-gear wherein the cylinder imparts a rotary movement to the rollers, substantially as shown and described.

2. An animal-tread power, embodying a cylinder within which the animal walks; rollers upon which the said cylinder is mounted, and aframe supporting the said rollers, whereby, when the said cylinder is rotated, a rotary movement will be imparted to the said rollers through frictional contact therewith, substantially as shown and described.

3. In an animal-tread power, the combination of the frame consisting of sills and crossties, pillow-blocks rigidly affixed to the said frame, boxes adjustably affixed to the said pillow-blocks, shafts journaled in the said boxes, rollers affixed to the said shafts, and a drum mounted upon the said rollers, the interior of said drum constituting an endless track upon which the animal walks, thereby rotating the same, and transmitting through frictional contact, a rotary movement to the said rollers, substantially as shown and described.

OHARLES R. GALE.

Witnesses:

E. O. MORSE, II. J. WATERS. 

